North West business leaders celebrated in Queen's Birthday Honours list

A Liverpool business leader responsible for strengthening the region's trade links with China is among those to have been recognised in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Awarded an MBE, Paul Kallee-Grover joins a prestigious list of recipients in the annual list announced this evening that also includes community leaders and stars of screen, music and sport.

Celebrities including Prue Leith, Judge Rinder and Lulu have been honoured, with Manchester City and Liverpool stars Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson receiving MBEs.

Sterling's award came for services to racial equality in sport amid controversy over England fans booing players taking the knee at matches as a gesture against intolerance

Henderson's came after he raised £4m for the NHS from fellow Premier League footballers through the #PlayersTogether appeal.

Ex-Liverpool and England manager Roy Hodgson was also awarded a CBE for services to football.

Elsewhere, the life-saving work of Covid-19 vaccine design and delivery - plus many who helped others during the pandemic - was celebrated in the list, including several recipients from the North West.

Mr Kallee-Grover, business leader and chair of the Liverpool China Partnership, wasawarded an MBE for services to international trade and investment.

With over 25 years experience in export, trade and urban regeneration, he has worked to support businesses branching into foreign markets for the first time to seize global export opportunities.

Mr Kallee-Grover was elected as the new chair of Liverpool China Partnership (LCP) - a voluntary role - in 2019.

The LCP is an award-winning group set up to expand and strengthen business, academic and civic partnerships in the promotion of trade and friendship across the Liverpool City Region and the Isle of Man with counterparts in China.

He said: "As chair of the Liverpool China Partnership, I am proud to be given this honour in recognition of my work with the Department for International Trade over more than a decade, as well as the great work being done by the LCP to promote the Liverpool City Region while supporting others on their own export journey.

"I am passionate about export growth and will continue to champion SME businesses to be bold and ready to seize the opportunities in the global marketplace, and to celebrate and further develop the UK and Liverpool’s relationship with China."

Mr Kallee-Grover is also vice president of investor relations at Barcelona-headquartered CREA IDEA Lab, a platform bringing together global experts to connect physical and virtual worlds

He is also group planning director at the Leith Group, and has been a Northern Powerhouse Exporting Champion for the Department for International Trade since April 2019.

Other Liverpool-linked business recipients in the list were those praised for their contribution during the pandemic.

Among them was Dr Fiona Angela Olinda Marston. entrepreneur in residence at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Dr Marston, who lives in Reading, Berkshire, was awarded a CBE for services to the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also awarded a CBE was Southport-based David Kenneth Hunt, head of vaccine operations for AstraZeneca for services to UK Healthcare and the Covid-19 Response, as was Leonnard John Broadhurst, who runs St Helens firm Absolute Occupational Health - for services to the food supply chain during Covid-19.